On the back of a Matthew Bell 80 and a James Franklin 73, Wellington at 329/5 placed themselves in a position to dominate their last-round State Championship match against Auckland.

Whether they have done enough to snatch an unlikely repeat of last season's title win will be over to their bowlers.

Welllington were assisted by an Auckland side that produced 107 overs in the day. However, they lost some impetus with an injury to the middle-order batsman Leighton Morgan, hit on the jaw after ducking an Andre Adams short ball that did not rise as expected.

Having won the toss and electing to bat, Bell and his opening partner, Chris Nevin, dominated the morning session. They rattled up 102 in 25 overs, helped by a depleted Auckland opening attack that depended on the medium pace of Adams, Tama Canning and Sanjeewa Silva to back up the sole pace man, Gareth Shaw. The limitations of the Auckland bowling attack were shown up by Adams turning in 11 overs of off spin as he and Brooke Walker put the brakes on the Wellington progress during the afternoon session.

Nevin produced a typically swashbuckling 50 off 69 balls before the introduction of Rob Nicol's off spin brought about the wicket-keeper/batman's demise, the victim of a sharp return catch to the bowler. At the other end Bell led from the front, maintaining a scoring rate that saw Wellington rush to 151/2 at lunch.

The afternoon action was in sharp contrast to the pre-lunch session. With Bell's departure after failing to play a shot to Walker, the Auckland bowlers, particularly Walker and Adams in spinning mode, constrained Franklin and Grant Donaldson. Donaldson joined Nevin in departing at 50, his contribution to a 109-run partnership with Franklin but neither showed any inclination to go on the attack.

Franklin, having provided clear evidence of his all-round skills, followed soon after, like Donaldson a new-ball victim at the hands of Adams. Adams certainly lived up to his own all-round abilities, his off spin spell part of a 35-over day's work that saw him take two for 65.

Nicol achieved the early break throughs, ending the day with two for 44 off 14 overs while Walker, the other wicket-taker, put in 31 overs for his one for 79.

Wellington start tomorrow with Mark Jefferson on 21 and Luke Woodcock on 19 as they set about establishing a mountain before bowling Auckland out twice as they attempt to climb it. On a pitch that has present the batsmen with few demons, that will be require a supreme effort.

© CricInfo